Breaking Down a Google iPad Killer Rumor
Today Fox News is reporting that Eric Schmidt promised an iPad killer in six months, based on a comment the Google Executive Chairman made last week to Italian paper Corriere della Sera. This is exactly what Schmidt said. "Noi nei prossimi sei mesi contiamo di mettere sul mercato un tablet di altissima qualitàm," he told the paper. Yes, that's Italian. But, any native English speaker can read that nowhere in there does it say iPad.
RELATED: Why Google Should Stay Out of the Tablet Game
Using our basic Italian, derived from our decent Spanish skills and some Google translate help, we're pretty sure that translates to something like "in the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality." Considering Google owns the Android operating system, this could mean that Google is working with another hardware company to create a new tablet. It's neither exciting nor surprising that within a year, a new Android something would hit the electronics market.
RELATED: All the Possible Tablets Google Will Unveil This Week
However, Schmidt could have alluded to something a bit more interesting: an iPad-slaughter machine. "Vedrete una concorrenza brutale tra Apple e Android di Google. È il capitalismo." Translation: "You will see a brutal competition between Apple and Google Android," continued Schmidt. "That's capitalism." That sounds harsher than just another Android tablet. Google reserves the Nexus brand for its Android-based smartphones, which is why others have inferred that Schmidt may be talking about a new Nexus offering. This intriguing Nexus tablet has been rumored since April 2010, with the mill feeding the unconfirmed tablet ever since. Schmidt has been known to make crazy promises of late—including Google TVs in every home within six months. (That one sounded particularly ridiculous to us.)
RELATED: The Google Nexus 7 Is the Right Kind of Cheap
As for the iPad killer part. We've heard that kind of big talk before, particularly with Amazon's Kindle Fire. And with its recession-proof $200 price tag, the Amazon tablet has done a decent job disrupting the Apple-dominated market, claiming a million sales per week. But the death part has yet to be determined. Google's Nexus phones have gotten mixed reviews from the techies, some saying they would forgo the iPhone with others sticking by Apple's devices: The iPhone still dominates.
